


Purple Bat

by theLadyofBelmont



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: BAMF Cassandra Cain, BAMF Stephanie Brown, Batman doesn't like Stephanie Brown, Bruce Wayne doesn't know how to treat his Robins well, Cassandra Cain is Batgirl, Cassandra Cain is Stephanie Brown's number one fan, Cassandra comforts Stephanie, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Good Sibling Cassandra Cain, He is wrong though, Hurt Stephanie Brown, Hurt/Comfort, Mentioned Alfred Pennyworth, Mentioned Barbara Gordon, Mentioned Bruce Wayne, Mentioned Dick Grayson, Mentioned Jason Todd, Mentioned Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown Needs a Hug, Stephanie Brown is Spoiler, Stephanie Brown is part of the Batfamily, at least not all the time - Freeform, fight me on this, stephanie brown was robin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2021-01-31 01:06:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21437659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theLadyofBelmont/pseuds/theLadyofBelmont
Summary: More Batfamily fanfics? Yeah, that's right. It's the first time I write about Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain so I feel like I have to add that I don't know much about them. All that I know I learnt from reading some comic panels on Instagram and some tumblr posts about them so I apologise if there's any mistakes with the cannon. But I just LOVE them and their relationship so I wanted to write about them.Also, I don't know exactly where this fic would fit; it's after Stephanie stops being Robin and goes back to being Spoiler while Cassandra is Black Bat. Tim isn't Stephanie's boyfriend yet, they're dating; and Damian is already part of the family, so ???Anyway, I hope you like it!On a little side note, the injury/medical parts are probably wrong so be safe and don't try any of these things at home! Also bare in mind that there are some descriptions of blood, wounds and violence so be careful.
Relationships: (mentioned) Stephanie Brown/Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown & Bruce Wayne (mentioned), Stephanie Brown & Cassandra Cain
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	Purple Bat

**Author's Note:**

> More Batfamily fanfics? Yeah, that's right. It's the first time I write about Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain so I feel like I have to add that I don't know much about them. All that I know I learnt from reading some comic panels on Instagram and some tumblr posts about them so I apologise if there's any mistakes with the cannon. But I just LOVE them and their relationship so I wanted to write about them.  
Also, I don't know exactly where this fic would fit; it's after Stephanie stops being Robin and goes back to being Spoiler while Cassandra is Black Bat. Tim isn't Stephanie's boyfriend yet, they're dating; and Damian is already part of the family, so ???  
Anyway, I hope you like it!  
On a little side note, the injury/medical parts are probably wrong so be safe and don't try any of these things at home! Also bare in mind that there are some descriptions of blood, wounds and violence so be careful.

Finally, at the end of the gravel path, Wayne Manor became visible; its imposing structure outlined by the moon's pale touch. The earth underneath her feet seemed to swallow her forcing her down, yet she continued. _I've made it this far, I can't give up now... I'm so close, I can't believe I did it!_ Hopeful as she was, for a moment she forgot herself and headed to the iron gates in a rush, only to be stopped by a slash of pain in her torso. _Broken ribs...no running._ She staggered then to the gates and tried to push them open with her left arm, rattling the lock and chain that bounded them together. She looked up at the mansion, a dark figure that loomed above her with a lonely freckle of yellow light. She could ring the bell and call Alfred but he would probably be asleep by then. What time was it, anyway? Closer to midnight or to dawn? She had gone out on patrol at ten but had lost track of time after she had passed out.

She glanced at her two options. _Crawling on my belly under the hedges sounds like a bad idea considering my broken ribs._

_But if I climb the gates with one arm...and I fall...I could break my neck._

_Hedges it is._

She kneeled, pushed some branches apart and started making her way through them, her ribs screaming angrily at her. _Please don't puncture my lungs, please don't puncture my lungs..._ The hedges were thicker than she had expected and appeared to go on forever. The little branches and twigs pulled her hood back and poked holes in her already torn cape, tangling her legs with it. She screamed, tears burning in her eyes when the hedges' skinny fingers passed the bandages she had improvised hours before and dug inside her exposed flesh. She had to stop; she had to rest. She couldn't go on. Her arm had gone numb up until now that the bullet seemed to burn her shoulder trying to come out trough the other side. But there was only one golden square at the manor.

_If I faint here no one will come looking for me._

Biting her lip she kept going; the gravel clinging to her upper body through her purple suit and the twigs getting in her eyes and wound, lashing at her, cutting her; until the slap of the wind greeted her coldly. Breathless, she scrambled to her feet and climbed the path, her boots heavy and her legs wobbling under her, making her sway to the sides. _Just a few more metres; you can do it._

The lights over the doorsteps turned on, dazzling her at first when she went past them, yet no one came to see what had triggered them. Perhaps it was better that way. _No one to see Stephanie Brown's triumphant return home from patrol._ Was Wayne Manor her home now? Depending on who you asked probably. Tim would most likely say yes, but if it were up to Bruce, he would surely sent her back to her father's house. _Please don't be home tonight, please don't be home tonight, please don't be._

There was no use in fumbling in her pockets for a key to the front door, there hadn't been one in a long time, so she stumbled to one side of the mansion, her sliced cape flapping behind her. _I'll have to replace this, somehow._ Before it went out of sight she glared grudgingly at the only lighted window that, judging by its position (two windows apart from Dick's) she guessed it was Damian's. For someone who prided himself of being the greatest detective's true born son, the Demon brat (as Tim and her called him) should have realised by now that someone was trying to break in.

Where was Tim, though? She glanced at the front door hoping that maybe he would burst out of it to catch her in his arms and carry her safely back home. As ridiculous as the thought was, she could not help a sigh crawling out of her throat when after a few seconds no one came. _Of course he did not come through the fricking door!_ He was probably too busy kicking the shit out of Scare Crow with his staff or stopping a robbery; there always seemed to be a robbery taking place somewhere in Gotham. She shuddered as a terrible thought stroke her. What if he was bleeding to death in a gutter? Her fingers reached up to her ear but were immediately lowered. Her coms had smashed during the fight, although beating could be a more appropriate word for what had actually happened. Another broken thing she would have to replace. She didn't have her phone with her either; Batman would never let them bring it when going on patrol; he said it would allow their enemies to track them but Stephanie suspected he didn't want them filming bloopers or sending each other _memes._ No, the only way to contact Tim was to get a new com...from the Batcave. The more reason to find a way in.

Dodging bushes at times and crashing against some at others, she went around the left corner of the house, shadowed by its walls on one side and the wild trees on the other. She turned around multiple times, not able to shake the feeling that someone or something watched her secretly hidden in the underbrush.

_There's nothing there Steph, it's just your blood-deprived brain playing tricks on you._

Careful not to squash Alfred's roses with her boots the purple vigilante almost missed the barely opened window. She smiled, glad that she could still trust the old butler to always keep a way in to the manor for her. He probably left it open in case any of the Wayne children ever forgot their keys, but pretending it was a taylor-made thing felt better. Besides, it could easily be, considering no one had bothered to show _her_ the outside secret entrances to the Batcave.

Perhaps they thought she already knew them. _Or perhaps Bruce doesn't want to reveal all his secrets to someone who's just leaving._ A year had passed, though, and she hadn't left. _Yet he still doesn't trust me. To him I'm an outsider; a phase Tim will outgrow; a girlfriend he'll grow bored of._

And heck, she was not even _that_.

She snorted and got a painful reminder that her ribs were still broken and aching.

When had it mattered, though what the Batman thought? She hadn't got into the vigilante business for him, but for her father. For her father, yes, but also for herself. Being the child of a villain she had always felt stained, as if her father's crimes were a sort of hereditary disease that devoured her from the inside out, killing her slowly; but she had discovered this night job to be cleansing. For the first time in years she felt healthy, capable of more.

_To hell with 'The Batman'! I've found something that completes me, that makes me feel good. I'm not going to let a thirty-year old weirdo dressed as a bat take that away from me!_

Determination and mostly muscle memory, drove her to lift the window open to the fullest, place both hands on its marble frame and push herself up. She cried out as her right arm slipped from under her and she smashed her chin against the stone. Her vision clouded and she felt herself drop to the ground as though she were melting away. Her eyelids became too heavy to lift, though her head seemed extremely light. The grass was soft and damp with dew underneath her.

_Stay awake, Steph, STAY AWAKE._

Blood trickled down her throbbing arm and suddenly she was back at the alley. The tower of a man leaned over her, blocking the faint light of the lampposts on the street. She had managed to entertain him long enough for his bruised girlfriend to get away. She had even knocked the gun of his hand yet he had somehow got a hold of it again in the heat of the battle and shot her in the arm. That had stunted her and weakened her; made her moves slower and clumsier. Where were the cops? Had that woman left her there to die?

She tried to back away from him but the world rolled slowly and he was fast. With a swift blow he knocked her off her feet, her head and chest banging against the trash stapled floor. It smelled of piss and beer. From under dropping eyelids she saw his back heading towards the light. _No, no, no, he's going after her again!_

-Wait!- she yelled though he paid her no mind. She searched around for something, anything he could throw at him. The empty can hit him on the back of his neck despite being thrown with her bad arm. His face, screwed up in rage made her regret it as soon as she saw it. _Too late for that now._

He launched forward, his right fist raised and his eyes screaming murder but she moved out of the way and he missed her. She had no such luck the third time. He got her right under the eye and sent her reeling.

_Focus, Steph, focus!_

He was way stronger than her so she kept moving on unsteady legs in an attempt to tire him until the police got there. Because they would. They had to be on their way. Her speed and reflexes, however, were not what they used to be; the blood loss dizzied her and made her move as though she were inside a jar of jam. The man tackled her and pinned her against the wall. Every push back was met with a slam against the bricks. Her ribs seemed to crack under his weight and breathing became harder. _He's crushing me, he's... he's killing me._

She fumbled frantically in her pockets for a knife, a batrang, a gun, hell, at this point, even a pencil would do. Her gloved hand closed around a leather grip. A dagger; Cass' dagger. She could hear a faint scream in the night. Police sirens. _I might not be alive when they get here. I can't...I can't wait for them... I'm sorry._ She pulled it out and stabbed him. Where? She did not know; she could not see; she did not care.

The pressure in her lungs receded and with a groan, the man crumbled to the floor clutching his thigh. As she filled her lungs with painful deep breaths, Stephanie drew the dagger out of his leg and stumbled up the fire scape stairs that startes at the alley, all the way up to the roof. A police car stopped at the mouth of the alleyway; the woman hadn't failed her after all. She placed the dagger back in her pocket.

-Thank you Cassandra.-she muttered before collapsing under the stars.

**...**

_Wake up Steph, WAKE UP!_

Her eyes shot wide open. Under the marble window frame, the wind whispered in her ear and everything hurt. Even her teeth, which miraculously, hadn't shattered; but the spoonful of blood dripping from where she had bitten her tongue had a bitter and metallic taste. With great effort, she picked herself up and faced her enemy. _Let's try this one more time._ She sat on the window ledge and, much to her ribs dismay, she twisted and put her body through the window, her legs first and little by little the rest, and landed with a grace she had forgotten herself capable of. _Thank you Cassandra and Barbara for your sigile lessons._

It took her eyes a few seconds to adjust to the pitch black darkness before vaguely distinguishing the shape of the fridge and the kitchen counter. It was icy cold inside, and despite the opened window, a faint smell of home-made food remained. Spaghetti perhaps? _I could do with some of Alfred's mushroom sauce._

That would have to wait, though. The place spun around her as she staggered to the wall, fumbling for the light switch. She glanced at the living room across the hall and the void stared back. _Where is everyone?_ Even if they were at the Cave they had cameras, right?

She heard a soft sound behind her, like the faint touch of naked feet against marble, and no sooner she turned she was pinned against the floor. Again.

Dark spots danced in front of her and her arms felt like gelatine. Whoever that was, she had no energy to move the foot crushing her breastbone.

-Please...-the words scratched her dry throat, making a sound like nails clawing at a blackboard.- I can't...

-Spoiler...Steph!- a voice exclaimed, the first time she had ever heard her being surprised. She lifted her foot off of her chest and helped her to her feet.

-All this time, and all I had to do to surprise you was almost die in front of you.- Stephanie said with a soft chuckled that made her wince in pain.

Cass never laughed at her jokes, though Steph could feel her smiling softly beside her as she always did. -You're hurt.- she said as she turned the kitchen's pale lights on.

Stephanie knew her well enough to answer the unasked question.- Yeah, I met a guy who thought his girlfriend's 'no' meant 'beat me until I say yes' so I had to step in. He, um, he shot me.

Without another word, Cass sat her on a tall stool at the counter, opened a drawer from somewhere behind her and came back with a first aid kit, probably Alfred's. Suddenly Stephanie realised what she was about to do.-Cass do you...do you know how to do it?

As if it were an answer, her friend pulled out some bandages, one pair of scissors and forceps, a bottle of alcohol and a cutter. She stared in frozen horror at the shimmering blade as Cass sterilised it. However, when she grabbed her arm Steph snapped out of it and pulled it back out of her reach. She winced at the very movement.

-Do you know how to do it? Because otherwise I'm not letting you any closer to it.

-Yes.- she accompanied the word with a curt exasperated nod but waited until Stephanie had relaxed a bit to reach out again.

Tenderly, she undid her improvised tourniquet and cut the bloodstained fabric of her suit. She stopped at the metallic pad that covered the right half of her arm from the shoulder to the elbow. When she exposed the swollen wound she made a face but Stephanie could not bring herself to see. As Cass cleaned it with the alcohol, her arm tensed up under her friend's grasp and her insides were a heavy knot. The seconds passed and Steph dreaded the moment she would finish and yet could not wait for it to be over. The alcohol burned, and like a bonfire, brought hot tears to her eyes.

-Hold still.-Cass warned while preparing the forceps, and the purple vigilante wished with all her being she was at a hospital, with full anaesthesia and a doctor, even if it meant risking her secret identity. _Batman would surely kick me out for that. _-I'm sorry.- she said and dug the sterilised forceps inside her wound.

The pain was excruciating. Stephanie cried, screamed, clenched her jaw and hit the counter with her other hand but tried to hold as still as possible. For a moment her vision went milky white; yet before she passed out, with a disgusting sucking sound, the forceps came out, a bloody piece of bullet crunched between its teeth. Stephanie relaxed in the stool, the tension releasing and leaving her body feeling like soaked mop.

Cass looked at her sideways as she pressed a bandage drowned in alcohol against the hole in her arm.- Don't. We have to come again.

Steph's eyes went wide.- What...!? Why!?

Batgirl gestured vaguely to the bullet resting at the counter.- It's missing some parts. They're inside you.

Her clouded mind needed a few seconds to process the information.- No, it's... they're not there.-Upon seeing Cass' furrowed eyebrows she continued, her voice a whisper squeezed out of her with the last of her strength.- The bullet broke when it hit the pad on my arm so only a piece of it actually got me. Tim designed it; it was supposed to be only a first attempt, a model, but it worked.

_It saved my life_.

As Cass started bandaging her arm, her hands a carmine mess, Stephanie added- You know, I'm really glad you didn't have to use the knife.- and for a second she could have sworn she had heard her snort.

**...**

Cass placed Stephanie's left arm over her shoulders and half carried her safely to the living room. She thought she resembled a mummy, all wrapped in bandages as she was. The realisation slapped her.- Cass, what are you doing here!? I thought you were getting back tomorrow!

She extended her arm awkwardly and smiled- Surprise. I finished sooner.

-You always do. You go, girl!- Spoiler said with a proud grin and Batgirl blushed softly. She wasn't used to being praised, as Stephanie had discovered some time ago.- I had made you a cake for tomorrow night.

Cass' smile gained a mischievous undertone.- Since it's just us we _could_ eat it.

-I don't see why not. It's your cake after all...wait a second, Bruce isn't here?- she exhaled quietly when her friend shook her head, the sudden tension dissolving.- Where is everyone?

-Bruce went out with Dick; Alfred has a night off; I run into Damian at the Cave, he was taking care of Ace and filled me in; and Jason is out...

-Being Jason?- Cass nodded.- Where's Tim!? Is he alright? Did he call asking for help?

_How could I forget about him? _

_You were shot and about to die, Steph._

Her friend tilted her head to the side the way she always did when she didn't understand.

-He was patrolling with me. He suggested we split up and I haven't seen nor heard from him 'cause my com is busted. I'm worried Cass,- she said with a long sigh- has he called?

-Robin.- she pulled her phone out of the inside pocket of her leather jacket. Black, like every good bat-child.

-Hi Cassandra.- Damian would never admit it, though his voice was clearly a high-pitched sound through the speakers. -Is everything okay?

-Did Tim call, Damian?

-Hello to you too, Brown. Umm, yeah, Drake just called. He wanted to see if you had arrived safely.

-And what did you tell him?- At least he was alive. _He is worried about me too._

Damian sighed down at the Cave- I said no and told Drake to fuck off but I guess now I'll have to call him again to tell him you're here. Are you okay?

\- Yeah, Cass helped...

-Great, I'll tell him that.-he cut her off, eager to finish the conversation.

-Wait, wait, where is he now? Is he coming over?- _Come on Demon brat!_

-No. He said he's joining Father and Grayson for some father-sons patrol night or something. Frankly, I think it's just normal patrol and he was only trying to spite me.- Damian might be a great Robin but his acting skills were close to inexistent ; he did not sound half as aloof as he intended to.- Good night.-he added and hung up.

_So much for worrying, I guess. _

_Why does it still surprise you? He is Red Robin; he has no time to go around babysitting you._"

-Stop.

-Hmm?- Black Bat stretched her neck a bit to get a better look at her friend.

-Nothing,- she answered. _I thought it was just in my head._\- thank you Cass.

-Careful.- she told her, as Stephanie laid on the sofa in the living room. _Finally_, she thought, despite her ribs feeling on fire underneath the layers of bandages.

-I will go to your room. You're bloody.

Steph snorted- It's not _my_ room, Cass. It's just the, ugh, "a" guest room. One of many.- _That's what I really am; just a guest at Wayne Manor._\- I have no clothes here. But don't worry, I'm too tired to change. I just want to rest.- she leaned backwards and let her eyelids close.

-No cake?

-That I have energy for.- she said lifting her head.

Stephanie grew bored easily so it wasn't long before she became restless after Cass left. She got up, putting most of her weight on her good arm, and wandered around the room. The opened door at it's far end appeared as an invitation she was unlikely to refuse.

Bruce's office looked exactly how Stephanie had pictured it. A large carved wooden desk rested under a window before an even bigger chair. _Big enough to fit all that bat-ego._ The other three walls were occupied by bookshelves. It might not have been as interesting as she would have liked, but she was never allowed to be there for much time unlike Dick, Cass, Damian or Tim, so she would take the opportunity to explore. Even if the only thing to explore were old accounting books and Wayne Entreprise's files.

A thick carpet with faded colours muffled her steps as she gazed at the shelves. The chill air made her shiver, although it might have been a wound-induced fever. A book followed another, pressed against another one and another one, the titles mixing and rearranging back up again in her exhausted brain. Accounting One; Gotham Academy: Student Ethic Manual (there were four of them); Photography for dummies; Shakespeare's Greatest plays; Everything to know about dogs; The Basics of Sign Language; Acrobatics and Contortions; and many more. The only thing keeping the tomes from melting into a single large one were the photographs.

A black and white picture with a silver frame caught her eye first. A couple stood at the gates of what she recognised as the Manor; all smiles, behind a grinning boy that couldn't have been more than seven. He was missing a tooth. _Bruce was such a cute smiling boy._ She felt sorry for being so hard on him. _He has his mother's square chin and his father's large eyes._

She recognised Bruce in the next photograph with no difficulty. He no longer showed his teeth as he had on the first one but wore his usual barely visible smile. He carried a child on a piggy-back ride that was laughing his heart out. _Dick. _Jason was on the one beside it. A little bit older, probably thirteen and sporting one of those sufficient teenager smirks that said 'I'm invencible.'

_Tim, that fringe was a mistake for so many reasons._ Stephanie thought, looking at a picture of her (not quite yet) boyfriend when he was twelve. She giggled and moved on to a photograph of Damian. He was the most serious out of the four of them as he posed with his father all dressed up in a suit and tie for a gala. Black, like every good bat-child. Cass was on the next one, looking spectacular on a sparkling black dress. She had a soft smile, kind of like Bruce's.

There were no more pictures on the bookshelves so Steph went to the desk. There was one where Alfred and Bruce hugged each other like father and son; one on Dick's highschool graduation and one on Tim's; one on each Jason's and Damian's first day at Gotham Academy; one where Barbara was teaching Cass how to read. And at the centre was what could only be a family picture. Tim and Damian were at opposite ends of the picture to avoid instante death; Dick grinned with one arm around a resigned Jason and another around Barbara; Alfred and Bruce stood at the middle, like the parents, and Cass between them, smiling like an angel.

_Where... where am I?_

-Where am I?-she repeated clutching the picture in her hands, the carved vines of the frame digging inside her palms. A lump formed inside her throat and before she knew, she was heading to the main door.

-Stephanie?-Cass asked when she went past her at the living room. She had placed two plates with cake on the coffee table in front of the couch.

-I'm leaving.- her voice sounded strained and tears welled in her eyes. _No, not here. He does not deserve them._

-Where?

_That's right Steph, where will you go? Home to your father? To Barbara's place? To Dick's? To Gotham's Library like that weekend? Where will you go that you're wanted? __S_he dragged her feet back to the couch and sat down.

-What's wrong?- Cass asked softly.- Is it your arm?

_Say yes, say yes._

-He doesn't want me here. At first I thought it was just a playful rivalry but he just... doesn't want me here. I used to be his Robin. What am I now, huh? A stupid girl in a purple suit with broken ribs and a bullet hole. He doesn't want me here. Might be no one really does.- the words finally tumbled swiftly out of her mouth after being played in her mind over and over again for months, as if they were the lyrics of a catchy song she couldn't get out of her head.

Her friend shook her head.- That's not true.

-I don't belong here Cass, don't you see?-the tears rolled down her cheeks now.- I'm not a part of this family. I'm not Bruce Wayne's blood or legal child; I'm nobody's adoptive father; I'm not even like Jason or Barbara, whatever their family status is. I'm... I'm... nobody really, I'm just a tag-along, I'm just ....

-My friend.- Cassandra replied-Tim's girlfriend.

Stephanie sighed- I'm not sure about that; I mean, I'm not technically his girlfriend, we're still dating. But even if that were the case, a relationship like that can end, a partnership can end, but a family? That...that just doesn't end, whether you want it or not, a family is unbreakable.

-I left my father and you've distanced yourself from yours. Dick and Tim _chose_ to be adopted by Bruce. Because family is choice. Stephanie, family is love.- she said placing both hands over her own chest.- Maybe Bruce doesn't, but Tim, Dick, Jason and Damian love you. I love you. We choose yo...

Steph cut her off launching forward to hug her. -Thank you.- she whispered in her ear through sobs.- Thank you, thank you, thank you. I love you too.

**...**

-You know, you saved me twice tonight.- Stephanie said after finishing her patrol story. Cass tilted her head and she produced the dagger she had given her- Your dagger saved me; I stabbed the guy with it before he choked me to death. Thank you.- she laid down and rested her head on her friend's lap.

-Stephanie, you saved yourself.

A warm feeling spread from her chest through her whole body. _I did, didn't I? I did._

-You need a partner, though.-Cass added- Like a Robin.

Spoiler snorted- I _was_ Robin. It didn't go that well.

-Maybe you could be mine.

She looked up to her friend's face- You're kidding.- although she almost never did.- Are you serious?- she asked lifting up her head. The vigilante nodded and Stephanie squealed in excitement. -Oh my God, YES!! It'll be so amazing! Black Bat and Spoiler, partners in crime! I love it!

-It has a nice ring to it.- Cass admitted with a smile.

Stephanie yawned, and rested back her head on her friend's legs as the last of the adrenaline wore off.-Thank you Cass, for everything.-her eyelids began to drop and this time she didn't stop them; she was finally safe.

-You're welcome, sister.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I know part of what makes Stephanie such an interesting character is that she keeps going in spite of what Bruce or anyone have to say about it, but in reality no one is strong all the time and can't keep it together 24/7, that's why I thought it would be interesting to see Stephanie deal with that and how Cass, being her best friend, helps her through it. Also, I realise this fic presents Bruce as a mean character perhaps, and I just want to clarify that I like Batman (not too much though, but he's cool, especially when he is written as a parent), but I chose to write a part of his arc in which he wasn't that good and made mistakes that ended up hurting other people.  
On another note, closer to the end, when Cass tells Steph she's her friend and she keeps going on about something else is not that Stephanie takes Cass for granted; she loves her. What happens is something that usually happens to me (and I don't know if many of you experience it but maybe you do?) that when you're so fixated on what's wrong and what you wish things to be like, you can't see the good things you have, even if they are right in front of you.  
One last thing, when Steph goes through Bruce's books, she sees he has books on all his children's interests (except hers): the Gotham Academy manuals were for the four boys; the photography one for Tim; the Shakespeare one for Jason; the one on acrobatics for Dick; the one about sign language for Cass; and the one about dogs for Damian. So...yeah, Steph is double hurt


End file.
